Sport | Football
Lack of experience cost us dear, say experts
UAE soccer fans are heartbroken with the way the UAE soccer team exited the Gulf Cup in Oman. The defending champions lost 3-0 to Saudi Arabia in their last match in group B last Sunday.
- By Sayed Ali, Senior reporter
- Published: 23:42 January 13, 2009
- Image Credit:
Dubai: UAE soccer fans are heartbroken with the way the UAE soccer team exited the Gulf Cup in Oman. The defending champions lost 3-0 to Saudi Arabia in their last match in group B last Sunday.
Earlier, they bagged four points from a 3-1 win over Yemen and a goalless draw against Qatar. Saudi Arabia and Qatar qualified for the semifinals.
Abdullah Saqr, the former UAE coach, said the lack of experience in defence was behind the defeat against Saudi Arabia.
"After the injury of Mohammad Qasim, the experienced defender, the defence suffered due to lack of experience. Mohannad, Faris and Mohammad Faiz played for the first time in the Gulf Cup before the fast Saudi strikers.
"Changing the coach or dismissing some players now will not be useful. I think the FA and the technical staff have to work hard in the coming days on raising the morale of the players to be prepared for the Asian Cup qualifier against Malaysia next week," said Saqr.
Khalid Esmail, the former national player and the first UAE star to score a goal at the World Cup in Italy 1990, said there were a number of reasons behind the defeat against Saudi Arabia.
"Firstly, there was no consistency. In every match, the coach played a different set of players. Secondly, the style and tactics of Dominique Bathenay were no different from former coach Bruno Metsu. Also, the mistakes by defenders and midfielders resulted in the heavy defeat," he said.
He said the coach didn't have alternative strategies during the match and played with the same tactics until the final whistle.
"I think with the absence of key defenders he should have played a libero. Also, experienced players like defenders Rashid Abdul Rahman and Bashir Saeed and midfielders Ali Abbas, Hilal Saeed and Subait Khater were not selected. The match against Saudi Arabia showed that the team needed them," said Esmail.
Khalifa Mubarak, the coach of the Al Wasl senior team, said the UAE lost against a stronger team.
"Saudi Arabia is one of the strongest teams in Asia. Our team played well in the first half and lost some scoring chances, which could have changed the result. I think the most important thing is that young talented players have come to the fore who will be a great addition to the national team in the future," said Mubarak.
Salim Rabea, the coach of Al Arabi club of Umm Al Quwain, said the coach didn't adopt a suitable strategy to stop the strong Saudi forward line.
"To stop the danger of the Saudi frontline, including strikers like Yasir Qahttani and Malek Maaz, he should have closed the midfield to deny them any passes. Also, playing with a libero instead of 4-4-2 could have helped in marking the Saudi frontline," said Rabea.
Eisa Obaid, the Al Nasr team manager, said the Qatari team were very lucky.
"The Qataris scored the winner in the seventh minute of injury time. They were very lucky to score in the last seconds.
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